San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-10-05
CHAPTER V.
FEMINA Ms.

For two days / sat at home or walked
about the HOlmbush fields broOding. The
Dancing Polly was gone; she was the
prize of the revenue people. They had
not taken my little boat. l might, as of
old, put out to sea and dream no longer
of the future, but of the golden past, ON
the gentle bosom of the channel And Of
course there was the Chace Mary, which
was no good TO me.
FOrty-eight hours struggle through the
depths of despair brought me to the goal
of resignation which all women after such
mental conflicts reach. Then | began to
look about for some way Of passing the
time.
Isaac Agus and his wife would carry OR
the farm. The produce of the farm-it
was not very UNDERWORLD suffice to keep
him, his wife and myself. That | soon
argued out and represented to the old Ia
bOrer, who was hard of comprehension,
but managed to understand at length that
he was to be sole responsible manager for
three years.
This settled, began to think about the
very remarkable and rapid clearance of
the cargo.
OF course, it must have been Joshua
whose step l heard in the bay; it must
have been Joshua come down to lend a
hand; it must have been Joshua who
cleared the hold; no one else could have
done it.
Where had he put the cargo?
The arrest took place at 4 in the morn
ing. When the revenue men came back to
look for their prize it must have been
past 8. Four hours to move fifty or
sixty kegs of brandy, each holding four
gallons or so.
For one man, single-handed, that is
heavy job. 1t would not be possible to
carry the kegs very far.
Now, we had half a dozen places known
only to ourselves, in which we could stow
our merchandise. They were scattered
about in the Undercliff. Some were
good half mile from the bay, one or two
quite close. Joshua, 1 thought, would
take the nearest of all. This was a place
lying quite close to the path from the
bay to the farm. To reach it you scram-
BILE over a slOping ledge of loose stones,
and you passed by what seemed to be q
tangled heap of brambles. If you got to
the back of the bushes you saw that they
covered over a natural hollow, a sort of
punch bowl, which made the most adj
mirable cellar in the world, especially in
summer when the leavts were thick.
went straight to the spot and pulled
aside the branches. Below me, to my
great joy / discovered the whole of the
Dancing Polly's last run.
Joshua had put it there careful Joshual
He had not ventured yet 10 sell any of it
prudent Joshua! No doubt he would
account to Dan on his return for his share
of the money-righteous Joshual
Anyhow, whether Joshua did this thing
with view to his own interest only, or
not, it was pluckily done, and well done.
Womanlike, had found a secret, and /
rejoiced. Who could have laid the infor-
nation? No one but ourselves-Of whom
Joshua was One-knew. Now, much as l
dreaded the man for his violence and mas
terfulness, / never for one moment sus-
pected Joshua of this villainy.
The day after l made this discovery,
there came to ROusdon bay the young fell
low belonging to Capt Pollard's COM
pany, of whom l have already spoken
John Beer.
He was good natured lad, and had
never ceased to regret the part he played
in the case. He found me sitting in the
porch looking sadly out to sea, and he sat
down, kindly saying nothing for awhile.
That was good of him.
"What is it you want with me, John
Beer?''
Nothing" he said.
Then there was no need for me to say
anything, SO went on with my medita-
tons, which were gloomy enough.
1.-THE captain did say" he presently
went on, ''he did say that might come
over here and find out something about
the cargo, if l could; and he did say, too,
that he hoped you wouldn't fret and
grizzle, because there's more comes back
than you'd think, and it is only for three
years. Lord! what's three years to a
chap? Next door to nothing-and good
fun all the time knocking over the French
men like ninepins."
made no reply.
"AboUt the cargo, Pleasance. It's a
sad loss tn M is that hrandvl"